Haley Penny

Haley is a Ph.D. student working under the supervision of Dr. Yolanda Ruiz de Zarobe in the Language Acquisition in Multilingual Settings (LAMS) Program at the University of the Basque Country. Her thesis, titled “Sustainability and Language Acquisition in CLIL Contexts: A Pedagogical Assessment of Learning Materials,” explores the intersection of language education and sustainability through multilingual learning spaces.

Originally from Phoenix, Arizona, Haley has lived in the Basque Country for five years. She graduated with honors from Arizona State University (ASU) in 2019, earning a BS in Sustainability, a BA in Spanish, and a TESOL Certification. During her time at ASU, she developed a systems-based approach to sustainability, examining the interplay between the environment, economy, and society on both micro and macro levels. She has taught undergraduate courses at ASU, gardening and sustainability classes in Arizona elementary schools, and English to students ranging from two to seventy-five years old over the past six years. For the past decade, Haley has been designing educational materials with a focus on multiliteracies, a key approach she is expanding on in her doctoral research.

Her passion for languages and cultures grew exponentially after moving to Europe. In 2020, Haley earned a Master’s Degree in Multilingual Education from the University of the Basque Country, concentrating on CLIL learning spaces. Through the LAMS doctoral program, she continues to gain experience in CLIL while working as an educational program developer, materials developer, and language teacher. Haley is very grateful to be mentored by Dr. Ruiz de Zarobe. She looks forward to learning more about learning—and hopes to teach at a postsecondary level again in the future.